Arty (Arthur) Elgart: 11/15/1942 - 6/5/2020
Arty (Arthur) Elgart passed away on June 5, 2020, at home, with the love of his life, his wife, Aileen Elgart, by his side. Arty was a devoted and loving father, adored and treasured by his entire family: his son Josh Elgart (Loreen); his daughter Brooke Elgart; his sister, Joan Elgart Olenick (Stan); his nephew Seth Olenick (Yasmin) and their son Ben; his nephew Rabbi Brett Olenick (Amalia) and their children Adina, Chanah, Shmuel and Sarah; his stepchildren Brad Brown (Anjali), Lori Krenzel, (Robert Ramos), Jon Kliner (Jessica); and five step grandchildren. Arty was esteemed and loved by his blended and extended family, by his neighbors, friends, community, and the world of adoption that he created.
A distinguished graduate of Valley Forge Military Academy, Arty proudly served in the United States Army Military Police. After completing his army service, Arty attended Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree.
Arty then followed in his mother's footsteps, choosing to become a teacher specializing in health and physical education, as well as being a patient and supportive Driver's Ed instructor. He became a positive influence in the lives of many young students, encouraging them toward their best educational and life choices. He had the ability as a teacher to be both tough and compassionate. He was respected and loved by his students.
After four years of teaching at Camden High School, Arty answered his father, Robert's, call for help in building and expanding their wholesale automotive supply business, Robert Elgart and Son, Inc., in which Arty and his sister had participated since childhood. Arty's success in business was well known to all of his competitors.
Arty became a familiar and beloved figure to the residents of the North Philadelphia community where his business was located. He gave out turkeys at Thanksgiving and at Christmas, and anonymously placed gift cards in the mail boxes of hundreds of neighborhood residents. Every summer he set up a water park slide, and gave out ice cream and other treats to the delight of the community children and their parents. Arty also donated benches at three bus stops, because of his compassion for the neighborhood's working people. He hired neighborhood residents whenever possible. Many of them remained with him until their eventual retirement.
The next chapter of Arty's life came to define him and the lives of so many others. When he and his former wife had difficulty starting a family, they decided to adopt. After enduring frustration and delays trying to navigate the adoption process in Pennsylvania, they were finally able to adopt their son, Josh, from an agency in Texas.
Arty learned that the available adoption systems were inefficient, inconsiderate of birth mothers and their babies and not working in the best interest of the prospective adoptive parents.
Perceiving the red tape and excessive fees in adoption as unfair and unnecessary barriers to successful adoption, Arty knew there had to be better way. After studying the laws governing adoption, he founded the Golden Cradle Adoption Agency in 1980. His model for adoption, in which he advertised to pregnant women on bill boards, on buses and many other advertising venues, broke all of the previous rules of adoption and gave birth mothers options that they had never before been offered. Those options included living with a loving family during their pregnancy (not the family that would adopt that particular child), free private pre-natal, medical and dental care and the choice to meet with the adopting parents.
Not only did Arty use his own funds to launch Golden Cradle, he also devoted as much as sixty hours a week to facilitate adoptions, frequently meeting with birth mothers at his automotive supply warehouse where a Golden Cradle sign was proudly displayed. Arty traveled extensively into rural areas to introduce and explain his adoption process to pregnant women who so often were grateful to learn about adoption as path for their unborn child.
Eventually, Golden Cradle established offices in Cherry Hill and Arty's adoption model became renowned in the United States, as well as abroad.
Golden Cradle was able to arrange an adoption to qualifying parents in 8-10 months rather the standard waiting period of several years. Many health care professionals believed in Arty's adoption model and volunteered their services to Golden Cradle.
Arty became known as "Mr. Stork," a title that he loved and embraced. The energy he needed to run both his automotive business and Golden Cradle was generated from the pure joy he experienced when calling a couple, announcing that it was Mr. Stork and that he had a baby waiting for them. "My heart started thumping so loud in my chest, with each and every phone call and the genuinely delighted response, I thought I was going to break a rib!"
Arty was able to bring additional happiness into his own life with the adoption of his daughter Brooke, through his own Golden Cradle agency.
Arty was responsible for the adoption of over 1000 babies during his time as Founder and Board President of Golden Cradle. He became an Emeritus Member of the board in 2015, after 35 years of dedicated service.
Refusing any compensation for his work in adoption, Arty simply asked that the adoptive parents give him an 8x10 photograph of themselves with their new baby and any other children in the family.
A group of grateful adoptive parents made those photos into collages which Arty cherished and displayed in his automotive warehouse. When the number of photos became so large that he could no longer display them in his own office, Arty dedicated his corporate office halls to these cherished photos.
In 1982, Arty was contacted by Morely Safer's staff from the TV show 60 minutes. Morely told Arty that he did not believe that Arty declined any compensation for his tireless work. After thoroughly vetting Arty, Morely came to him and said "Arty, you are one of a kind and the real deal. You and several adoptive couples and birth mothers are going to be on 60 minutes." Additionally, Arty was featured on various other TV shows such as Good Morning America and Phil Donahue, as well as countless local broadcasts, magazines and newspapers, for his endless and loving dedication to making families. When asked by a reporter if Golden Cradle would separate twins or triplets to provide more adoptions, Arty answered that Golden Cradle was founded to create families, not separate them.
In 1990, on the tenth anniversary of the founding of Golden Cradle, a tribute was made to Arty and Golden Cradle in the United States House of Representatives, recognizing Arty's commitment to "humanize the adoption process for others committed to adopting and raising children."
The beloved "Mr. Stork" created a legacy that will be carried on in perpetuity by the adopted children who are now grown up and sharing their unique gifts with the world. Many are now having families of their own. That knowledge brought tears of joy to Arty, who said that he never thought about those babies growing up and having babies or adopting and so creating more and more generations of beautiful families.
Arty led by example to teach life lessons, demonstrating great warmth, compassion, empathy and love to enrich the lives of others. He modeled the American spirit with boldness and achieved success in life through discipline, hard work, grit, generosity and willingness to look to new and better ways to get things done! He created businesses that gave people jobs and contributed to society by being willing to take action and use his energy for the greater good. All who knew him loved his ever present sense of humor, his endless supply of jokes and his experiential stories. His fun loving side was also evident in his love of 50's rock and roll music and his exceptional ability to dance a mean jitterbug!
Arty's life motto and car license plate was never quit, as "NVR QWIT,"and he was true to this sentiment. He lived the best life he could, helping others to live their best lives, and will always be remembered as a man for all seasons and all people. Arty Elgart was a true blessing to anyone who had the good fortune to know him. He touched many, many lives and will be greatly missed.
